brad muirhead music

creative bass-trombonist & sousaphonist, improvisor, recording artist, composer, interdisciplinary performance artist

photo: Graham Ord / BM

"OLD / IN / OUT / NEW" song notes:

Ella's Song (BM4) is an odd meter Piece I wrote at my friend Jeff Moss's Ranch in the Rockies, while sitting on the deck enjoying the spectacular panoramic view, and watching his four-month-old Shepherd puppy (named Ella) relentlessly hunt and devour grasshoppers.

I Had Nothing Better To Do (BM4 + trombones) is simply a group improv vehicle for a herd of trombones - old piece, but new arrangement - I was at loose-ends at home one day and this melody emerged from a meandering practice session...

Fin (BM4 + all guests) was originally composed for a community-based multi-media event called the Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival that focused on water issues, hence all the water imagery in the lyrics. It is a family focused event, which elicited the nursery rhyme quotes at the beginning that evolve into a more serious tone - something for everyone. It has been performed many times in various forms - new arrangement, updated lyrics.

Dark (BM4) is a blues-variation that reflects the angst, confusion and self-inflicted negative spiritual feedback of those challenging times we all experience once in a while... heavy topic, fun tune!

Go Forth (BM4 + Brad Turner and Rod Murray), is a high-energy group-improv piece with a melody that floats freely over a pseudo-Latin groove.

Let's Play Make Believe / Threnos (BM4 + all guests) as a tune and its title have a convoluted history. An early version used the last section ("Threnos") of Shakespeare's metaphysical poem "The Phoenix and the Turtle" as the lyric. The "Let's Play Make Believe" version emerged from a more recent experimental project that light-heartedly addressed the subjects of perception, belief and perceived reality with the subtitle: "It's all make believe, so let's play!" Jim Hopson takes the trombone solo on this track. Thanks to Soressa Gardener for jump-starting the lyrics - the first line is hers.

Little Brother (BM4) is a polytonal/modal Afro-Swing piece with an angular melody dedicated to my great friend and long-time musical cohort Jared Burrows who, being less mature than me (by age), gets the diminutive honorific.

Warp 7 (BM4) is not a Star Trek reference, nor is it a fast tune - slow moving open group-improv slowly morphs into a medium-tempo groove, then culminates with a quirky, quick-moving melody - all based on a changing odd-meter 7-bar form.